Pixar Cars Shake ‘N Go King

Do you love NASCAR?
Let’s take King for a test drive and see how Richard Petty does behind the mic.

Pixar Cars Shake ‘N Go King

I confess, I was living under a rock and hadn’t seen Cars until the Christmas holidays this past year (2008). After watching the movie, I decided to get King for my son because not only had he asked Santa Claus for a blue car, the film was still fresh in his mind and I happened to grow up watching televised broadcasts of races nearly every Sunday with my dad while visiting with my grandparents. Needless to say, I was more than familiar with his hero, Richard Petty, and had a special appreciation for this particular product.

Released in 2006, the Mattel Shake & Go “Cars” Racers puts the control of speed and power into kids hands, suitable for children ages 3 years and up. Mattel says that kids can act out their favorite scenes for the movie “Cars” with the 4 stylish and collectible vehicles in this assortment including the characters Doc (voiced by the late Paul Newman), Mater (voiced by Larry The Cable Guy), King, and McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson). All the cars have their own specific engine sounds and phrases that will be activated as kids SHAKE the cars to rev them up and then watch them GO!

An aside: The car can be turned off by flicking a switch for times when it is not in use. Kicking the car by accident, putting the toy away and accidentally shaking it, or trying to sneak it into your house to wrap up for your kids can also trigger engine sounds so be careful if it’s meant to be a surprise!

Richard Petty Voice Over Performance

Richard Petty did very well in the movie (as did his wife, Lynda), and the Mattel Shake ‘N Go King featuring Petty’s voice was very authentic and will bring back memories for some and inspire others as this racing giant delivers sound encouragement through his voice. Petty recorded two lines that are triggered by shaking the car and releasing it. The voice over happens once the wheels are securely on the ground, just before the car takes off.
Petty says “You’re one gutsy racer”, and “You’ve got a lot of talent, kid!” as the car revs and prepares to zoom down your hallway.

About Richard Petty

Richard Petty, The King (b. 1937), #43, is the best-loved race car driver of the 20th century. Petty Enterprises relates, among other things, that Richard Petty achieved 200 Career NASCAR Winston Cup victories, is a 7-time Winston Cup Champion, 7 Daytona 500 victories, had 27 victories in one season (1967), and was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1997. For more information visit Richard Petty’s Wikipedia listing or go to PettyEnterprises.com.

Stephanie Ciccarelli is the Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer of Voices.com. Classically trained in voice, piano, violin and musical theatre, as well as a respected mentor and industry speaker, Stephanie graduated with a Bachelor of Musical Arts from the Don Wright Faculty of Music at the University of Western Ontario. Possessing a great love for imparting knowledge and empowering others, her blog serves an audience that wants to achieve excellence in storytelling through the power of the human voice. Stephanie was recently listed on the PROFIT Magazine W100 list three times (2013, 2015 and 2016), a ranking of Canada's top female entrepreneurs, and is the author of Voice Acting for Dummies®.

5 COMMENTS

This is a story close to home… literally. My studio is about 20 minutes from Lowes Motorspeedway and I live about 5 minutes from Joe Gibbs Racing as well. Recently I had the honor of providing voiceover services for Richard Petty’s son, Kyle Petty, who runs Victory Junction Gang Camp for seriously ill kids… it is a marvel!
While being given a tour of the facility during a huge Christmas celebration, my family and I were introduced to Kyle and we had pictures taken with him. He thanked me for the voiceover (my girls did some vo for him too… their voices will be heard at all 36 races in 2009 as they promote Victory Junction Gang Camp… forgive the proud moment) and then we went over and had our picture taken with Richard Petty himself…. how cool… yes we are a bit redneck, but that’s OK. Anytime someone excels at their profession it’s exciting… when you win 7 championships and 200 races… well, that’s why they call him The KING.
P.S. Richard stood in the very low temps for 3 hours signing autographs for every last person in line… everyone! So, there’s more to some folks that just what you see or hear. This man is gracious and, heck, he knew about “Branding” before it was popular… just look at his hat and glasses!
AND… I have in my hot little hands a gift from the Petty’s. OH, what is the gift, you ask? Well let’s just say I will be driving a 600 horsepower NASCAR around Lowes Motorspeedway for 8 laps as fast as I can do. My wife will be doing a Ride-Along at qualifying speeds of 165 for 3 laps as she rides with an instructor. All of this MAJOR FUN is a gift. You see, we decided not to charge the Petty’s because of the great work they do on behalf of kids… it was a gift. Well, they turned around and gave me a gift I will never forget! Forgive the long winded comment. I promise not to comment on the next 7 posts since I used up so much space on this one!

Hi Brian,
Thank you for sharing and commenting with your stories! It’s always nice to hear about personal experiences and what a pleasure it was to learn more about your connection to Kyle Petty and Richard Petty. It doesn’t surprise me that your daughters are doing voiceovers for the Pettys!
Richard Petty has been branding for a long time. Two of the things I think of first when his name comes up is his cowboy hat and iconic sunglasses. I was chatting with my dad about this article last night and he reminded me that I actually had a Richard Petty talking car when I was little that said “Get out of my way!”. I guess Richard’s been in the booth before 🙂
Enjoy your 8 laps around Lowes!
Best wishes,
Stephanie

I think Cars was one of the best animated films ever made. It had an original idea that connected to not only NASCAR fans but to America in general with a reflective look at how things use to be. I think having drivers lend their voices made the picture awesome and Richard Petty did a great job behind the mic. Pixar is possibly the best animated studio working right now and my dream job would be to assist in a movie for them.